Year of the Spark: January 7
by Sparky Army
Summary: What happens when Elizabeth challenges John to a dare?


_We, the Sparky Army, decree 2008 to be the Year of the Spark. We pledge to post a new sparky story or chapter of a sparky story every day from January 1, 2008 to December__ 31, 2008. Though the Powers that__ Be have removed Elizabeth Weir from the regular cast of Stargate Atlantis, we feel that she remains an integral part of the show, and that the relationship between her and John Sheppard is too obvious to be ignored. We hope that you, and anyone might happen to read these works, agree. _

_And if that isn't official enough for you, we don't know what is. Seriously, guys, we're just trying to have some fun--and show TPTB that Sparky is the way to go. So sit back and enjoy the 366 stories coming your way!_

**A/N** I know they are out of character, but they're kind of supposed to be. This takes place before season 4. It also contains spoilers for _Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. _Hope you like it.

**I Dare You**

**By saphiretwin369**

Elizabeth looked up from her laptop as John walked in to her office. "Hey."

"Hey," he responded, sitting in the chair opposite her.

"What's up?"

"Just got back from the infirmary."

"How's Katie?" Katie Brown had been off world with several other botanists studying some plants that were similar to roses when the native people had attacked. Katie had been one of the three people to be hit by the poisonous darts. She had been hit by two though and was still unconscious while the other scientists had already woken up.

"No different, though the doc says she should wake up soon."

Elizabeth nodded. "That's good. What about Rodney?"

"Still pretty worried. I think he'll be better when Katie comes to."

"Probably. I can't imagine what he must be going through."

"I can." He hadn't meant to say it out loud, but it sort of slipped out.

She raised her eyebrow at him in the typical Elizabeth Weir fashion. "You've been worried sick about someone who you've really fallen for before?"

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and didn't look her straight in the eye. "Yeah." He hesitantly looked at her and quickly averted his gaze when her eyebrow rose even more.

"You've felt this way recently?"

"Yes." Now she was curious. As far as she knew, John was a "love 'em and leave 'em" type. Captain Kirk, as Rodney called him. And now she was hearing him admit that there was a woman who he really liked and cared a lot about.

"So there is one woman, on this base, which you have feelings for?" She wanted to make sure.

"Yes," he said again, wishing she'd just drop the subject.

However, that was not going to happen. She wanted to find out who this girl was. Her tone teasing, she asked, "So who is she?"

"Nuh-uh. I'm not telling you."

"Please?" she begged, giving him her best puppy dog look.

He laughed at her attempt, relaxing somewhat. She was cute when she had that look. Maybe this wouldn't be completely embarrassing. "Nope."

She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted, knowing it was going to get her nowhere to keep asking. "Fine. Tell me this then. Why haven't you made a move yet?"

He shrugged, once again uncomfortable. "I don't know. I kind of get the feeling that she only likes me as a friend."

"Well you won't know unless you ask."

He shrugged again and didn't respond. "Well, since you won't tell me who she is, at least tell me what she looks like."

"Ok, I'll tell you this. She's got the most amazing green eyes I've ever seen."

Elizabeth sighed. "Well that's helpful," she said sarcastically.

John grinned at her. "Thought it might be."

"Fine, then. I challenge you to a dare."

Now it was John's turn to raise his eyebrow. "Did you, Elizabeth Weir, the diplomat and expedition leader, just challenge me to something as silly and childish as a dare?"

"Yes, I believe I did." There was no shame. In fact, she looked almost smug.

"All right. What's this dare?"

"I dare you to kiss this girl of yours. But these are the conditions. You have to take her by surprise, and it has to be in front of at least five people."

"Why five people?"

"I want witnesses."

"Are you sure you really want me kissing a co-worker though?"

Elizabeth was amused. Here was cocky, I-can-do-anything, John Sheppard trying to get out of a dare. "John, we've been on Atlantis for two years. You know I've allowed relationships to form. Rodney and Katie are together." She smiled at him. "You're not going to get out of this."

"Who says?""Me. And you want to know why?""Why?" John was almost afraid to hear her answer.

"Because if you don't complete this dare, then I am going to tell Rodney, who will tell everyone else on this base, that you, John Sheppard, the cocky flyboy, was too chicken to just kiss a girl."

"You wouldn't." He sounded horrified.

Elizabeth leaned forward on her desk, smirking slightly. "Watch me."

"Ok, fine. I'll do your little dare." He stood up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a sparring session with Ronon."

"Ok. Have fun getting your butt kicked." John shot her a dirty look as he left, but said nothing. As he walked off, he wondered why the hell he had just admitted to her that he was even falling – no _had fallen _(and hard too) - for someone. He also wondered how he was going to kiss her. _Well, this should be interesting, _he thought bitterly.

In the infirmary, Rodney was still by Katie's bed. His two hands were clasped over her left one. His head was leaned forward on the bed, where he had fallen asleep after getting no rest the night before.

Katie slowly opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times at the bright fluorescent lights. She looked around her a moment before realizing exactly where she was. It took a second longer to realize that she must have been hit while she was off world.

She felt pressure on her hand and looked down. When she saw Rodney she smiled slightly and gently removed her hand from his grip. The movement was enough to wake him though. His head shot up and immediately turned to her when she spoke.

"Hey, Rodney."

"Oh thank God!" Relief washed over him and he called Carson who came and began checking her over.

Later Rodney was walking into the mess hall. He had wanted to stay with Katie, but the two had ganged up on him saying that he needed to eat something as he hadn't in a while. So leaving his girlfriend in Carson's capable hands, he grabbed some food and joined John at a table.

His friend looked at him questioningly as he sat down, surprised that Rodney had actually left the infirmary. "Katie woke up."

"Glad to hear it." They sat in silence for several minutes, each eating their meals. Then Rodney spoke up. "So, uh, what's wrong with you?"

"What?"

"Well something must be wrong with you. It's lemon chicken day and you haven't said one thing to me."

"Just thinking McKay."

"About what?"

He didn't have any time to respond before a familiar figure came up to the table. It was Elizabeth. And John did not like the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Hey Elizabeth." McKay acknowledged her.

She nodded to him and then turned to look at John. "So is she in here? Because if she is, there are definitely more than five people in here."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. And yes, she is in here."

"Who?" McKay wanted to know, but they didn't hear him.

"Really?" She began looking around the mess hall, trying to guess who it would be.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to do anything yet."

"What aren't you going to do yet?" demanded Rodney.

"Oh. He's not going to kiss the girl that he's fallen for." Elizabeth supplied while John glared at her. He did _not_ Rodney knowing about the dare. "Anyway, I've got to get back to work." She then flashed a smile at John, grabbed some food and headed back to her office.

"What was she talking about?"

John sighed, knowing Rodney would not leave him alone until he found out. He was so going to make her pay for that later. "Elizabeth dared me to kiss the girl that I happen to care about."

Rodney smirked. "And I'm assuming she doesn't know that she basically dared you to kiss _her_?

"Not exactly." He paused halfway through taking a bite of his sandwich and set it back down on his tray when he realized what he had admitted. "Damn it! How did you know?"

Rodney snorted. "Oh please. The whole base can tell that you're in love with her."

"I'm not in love with her."

"Whatever." He clearly didn't believe that.

"Just don't tell anyone about this."

"And if I do?"

John scowled at him. "Then I can guarantee that your next meal will consist of all the citrus I can find and you'll be in the infirmary as a patient, not a visitor." That thankfully shut Rodney up.

That evening, John knocked on the door to Elizabeth's office. He heard her call, "Come in," and took his usual seat across from her when he entered.

"What can I do for you John?"

"I came to see if you were ready for movie night?"

She sighed. She really should have seen this coming. One time she allowed him to persuade her to go to a movie night and since then, for the past several weeks John had been constantly bugging her to go to another one. "You know I have to finish reading these mission reports." She indicated the files on her desk.

"No I don't. Those will be there in the morning and you look like you could really use a break."

"John-"

"Elizabeth." He interrupted her. "It's the least you could do considering you made me tell Rodney about the stupid dare at lunch today."

She thought about it. She did feel slightly guilty for that. She had known he probably wouldn't want anyone knowing about it. Plus she really didn't feel like doing any more work. "Fine." She sighed and stood up. "Lead the way."

John grinned triumphantly at her and led her out of the office. They reached the rec room and Elizabeth noticed that Carson, Katie, Rodney, Teyla, and Ronon were also there. Katie and Rodney were sitting on the Floor together while Teyla, Ronon, and Carson were seated on one of the couches. John sat down on the other, unoccupied couch and patted the cushion next to him. Elizabeth joined him and asked, "So what movie are we watching tonight?"

"Pirates of the Caribbean." Rodney supplied.

She immediately perked up. "Which one?"

"The third one, At World's End."

"Third one?!" John noticed, with some amusement, that she was uncharacteristically excited. "It finally came out?"

"Yep." Rodney went to put the movie in.

"Oh my gosh. I have been waiting forever to see this!"

John groaned. "Not you, too."

Elizabeth looked over at him, a questioning expression on her face. "When the second one came out, practically every woman on Atlantis watched it just because of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom." He explained. "That's why we avoided telling anyone when this one came."

"Well, just so you know, I do not want to watch this just because of Orlando Bloom or Johnny Depp. I happen to like the movie itself. Though I will admit that Orlando Bloom is pretty cute." She smiled.

John groaned again. "Just hit play McKay." Rodney did so and a few minutes later they were all engrossed in the movie. Even Ronon and Teyla, who had watched the first two movies of the trilogy, though there were some things that they did not fully understand.

"I can't believe that Will's the captain of the Flying Dutchman now. It should have been his father who stabbed the heart. Then he would be free and Will wouldn't be confined to the water except for once a decade!" Elizabeth stated when the movie was over.

John shot her an amused look. "Do you ever like the way a movie ends?" On the last movie night she had come to, they had watched _Shrek 2_ and she had complained about that ending too, saying that the King should not have remained as a frog.

A blush rose to Elizabeth's cheeks. "Yes. Of course there are movie where I like the ending."

Teyla came to her defense. "I must agree with Elizabeth. It is very sad that Will may only go on land once every ten years."

Elizabeth grinned. "See. I'm not the only one who thinks it could have ended better."

John rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Since none of them were particularly tired, they decided to play a game.

"Truth or dare?" Katie suggested.

That immediately reminded John of Elizabeth's dare, but he pushed it out of his mind.

"There is no way I'm going to play that. Sorry." Elizabeth was adamant.

"What about charades?"

They all looked at John. Then Carson, Rodney, Katie, and Elizabeth looked at each other. "Sure, why not?" The Scottish doctor said.

"How do you play 'charades'?" asked Teyla. Once the rules were explained, Ronon opted to sit out and just watched. Katie, Rodney, and Teyla became one team and John, Elizabeth and Carson became the other.

Katie was going to act first, so John's team quickly came up with an idea and wrote it down. They played for a few more rounds and then it was John's turn. He unfolded the paper and his eyes widened at the four-letter word that he had to act out. He then turned to face the opposing team and saw Rodney smirking. He glared at the scientist knowing it was his doing.

Rodney just continued to look smug, not bothered one bit by John's fierce look.

As John thought about how he was going to act it out, an idea came to him. "Elizabeth, come up here. I'm gonna need your help for this."

"But that's not allowed," she pointed out.

"So? You won't know what it is, so it's not cheating."

Elizabeth sighed. "Ok." She stood up and walked over by him.

John looked at her and as their eyes locked she was suddenly nervous about what he was going to do.

Rodney watched expectantly, Teyla and Katie were curious, Carson was ready to guess, and Ronon was asleep.

John leaned forward and before she knew what was happening, he was pressing a light kiss against her mouth. Her heart started beating faster and she completely forgot about her surroundings, getting lost in the sensation of his lips on hers. He pulled apart a moment later, leaving Elizabeth very confused. _Why did he just kiss me?_

He smiled at her. "I count five witnesses. That means I win."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. He was talking about the dare. That meant the woman he had fallen for was _her. _"You like _me_?"

"Elizabeth. I've felt a connection with you from day one. And since then it's only gotten stronger."

She smiled. "Well, I hate to break it to you, John, but you didn't win the bet."

His expression turned confused. "Why not?"

"You don't have five witnesses."

"Yes I do. Rodney, Katie, Ronon, Teyla, and Carson. That's five."

"Ronon's asleep."

John looked over at Ronon and glared at the sleeping man. Elizabeth smiled and her eyes sparkled. "You know, you could still wake him up and kiss me again, though, if you want."


End file.
